


The House

by silence_since_silence



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Creepy, Gen, Horror, Monsters, living alone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-21
Updated: 2015-10-21
Packaged: 2018-04-27 11:43:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5047225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silence_since_silence/pseuds/silence_since_silence
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin is a real estate agent. Arthur buys the two bedroom, one bath, one-level house with the streetlight right out front and just across the road and with the giant rosemary bush that has grown up around the front window like ivy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The House

**Author's Note:**

> Regarding the major character death: It's really not as bad as it sounds, so please don't let that put you off. (Yes, there is still death. No getting around that.)
> 
> Much thanks-confetti is sprinkled on merlinhorrormod for their patience, and on those of you at the chat who discussed this story with me!

Arthur buys the two bedroom, one bath, one-level house with the streetlight directly out front and just across the road and with the giant rosemary bush that has grown up around the front window like ivy. His real estate agent’s name was Merlin. Merlin’s final visit is the only time Arthur has a guest.

oOo

Arthur habitually closes the curtains for the front window before sundown every evening; he comes from a city and doesn't want people looking in. On days when he has not come home early enough to close up before sundown, he sees the shadow that the rosemary bush outside makes on the floor inside. The thin leaves of that bush make long shadows at the top and bottom of the square of light on the floor.

Outside the house, there is enough of a yard for Arthur to spend some time on. On Saturday mornings, he can often be found working on the yard. There are bushes already, which Arthur trims when they need it. He plants flowers, too. He saves any herb plants for the windowsill in the kitchen.

oOo

Arthur lives in the house this way for many months before he finds the small, concealed door inside a closet. He tries to open it, but it won't budge. He tries again every few weeks, whenever he thinks about it being there.

oOo

One Saturday morning, Arthur decides to trim down the rosemary bush in front of the front window. He trims it down to a height that is actually reasonable for that plant -- that is to say, _below_ the bottom edge of the window. He takes some of the clippings inside to use for dinner that night, and a little more to add to his kitchen herb garden.

oOo

Arthur stays late at work a week and a half later. He leaves when the streetlights are on.

He comes home to open curtains. He sees the same shadow on the floor in the front room. It isn't until he has put his bag down on a chair in the kitchen that he figures out why that shadow confuses him: he cut down what was casting it, there is nothing else high enough to cast it, and _it shouldn't be there_.

On his way back to the front room to have a closer look, he hears a hinge squeak from inside the closet. Arthur's months of curiosity get the better of him and he diverts his attention to go see what is behind the hidden door that is now cracked open.

It pulls open easily.

Arthur has to get on his hands and knees to look inside.

Inside, there is a small space that anyone who didn't know of the space's existence would mistake for the inside of a wall.

The walls of the space are covered in writing. Many places are unreadable because the hands of whoever wrote them were clearly shaking. A lot of the space has tally marks in different colored groupings. There is one sentence in large letters directly opposite where Arthur's head is peeking in: " **It knows you know.** "

Arthur is, quite plainly, freaked out that this room has been a few feet away from him for the entire time he's been living in this house.

He backs up out of the closet, closes the secret door, closes the closet door, and goes back into the kitchen. He sits down in one of the chairs and reins in his emotions.

_It's an extremely creepy room in an otherwise ordinary and comfortable house_ , he thinks. _There aren't any horrible stains in the room; just horrible writing._

These thoughts are not as comforting as he hoped they would be.

A dog barks somewhere down the street and Arthur jumps. _This is silly_ , he thinks. He stands up and shakes himself out. He heads into the front room to close the curtains like he normally does. He turns on the light on his way into the room. He closes the curtains by hand as usual, because these curtains have no convenient little string down the side. _I should upgrade_ , he says to himself. He feels the familiar tug of his shirt as he stretches up to make sure all the corners are in place. When he's done, he starts to move away.

The familiar tug of his shirt doesn't go away, and he's snagged on something. He turns his head to look back at what he might be snagged on -- of course there is a logical explanation. His shirt is pulled out down near the hem as it would be if it had gotten caught on something, but there is nothing but air holding it there. Arthur tries to tug his shirt free, even though he's not sure of what, but it won't budge. He tugs harder and it rips, but he's free and he bolts out of the room.

Back in the same chair in the kitchen, his heart is pounding wildly and his breathing is fast and shallow. His lungs feel like they're closing up, and he wheezes on every inhale and exhale.

Just when he thinks he's getting his limbs to stop shaking enough that he might be able to keep his legs from buckling under him when he tries to walk, the house starts trembling. Arthur thinks it's an earthquake, so he moves to the kitchen doorframe.

 

Something pulls on his trouser leg—

 

His heart flips over—

 

A twist of his body—

 

Falling—

 

A pervasive smoky smell hits his nose, and Arthur is afraid of what he will see if he opens his eyes. He cracks them open, though, and sees a world in grayscale where the colors and edges of everything look like they are blowing in a wind that Arthur cannot feel.

He notices he is in a tree-sized shadow of something and turns around. The last thing he sees is a wide-spread mouth with teeth that are the exact shape of the shadow on the floor of his front room.

oOo

The mouth cooks the man alive with its fire breath, then swallows him down in one gulp.

**Author's Note:**

> I'd love to hear all of your theories, so please do comment away!


End file.
